“Only the Lord Jesus never changes. The world, the family, and the children will always change, but Jesus’ great love will never change. My life experience: At my middle-age, my ex-wife and son died. Then my second wife died too. Since September 27, 1999, 22 years have passed, and now I’m 93 years old... Thank the Lord Jesus for his grace every day!”
An old servant of the Lord, Yuan Xiangzhong, recently wrote a message to a sister who suffered misfortune.
I have known Yuan for more than ten years. From April 20 to 22, 2021, a church worker and I went to Quankou True God Christian Church, Xiao Town, Fenghua District, Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province, to meet with him.
At the age of 80, Elder Yuan began to learn how to use a computer. He can skillfully use and operate various functions of the computer, such as PPT (PowerPoint), typing in Word documents, storing photos, playing music with hymns, composing music through software and so on.
He also has musical “cells”. When he served in Xi'an Church, he, who can sing many hymns, was in charge of the choir. While we were walking, he sang a few hymns to us. At my request, he played three hymns for us with the electronic organ, which sounded very beautiful.
Yuan has a very good memory. As a 93-year-old man, he is not in a state of senility or amnesia. Instead, he can recall his journey of service, the church, the development history of the church in China, and the ancient philosophers of Christianity in China. He can clearly recall these, even down to the exact year, month and day.
Despite his age, he is not slow at all and does not teeter. He led us around the church, to the bedroom, and up and down the three flights of stairs, with a light step.
He followed his father’s example and God’s plan for him to come to the True God Church of Xiao Town – a church with a long history of 104 years – and served there for more than 30 years. He recorded his experience of serving the Lord, and also the experience of those who were dedicated to the Chinese church and the Gospel for their whole lives (including not only church pastors, but also laypersons who were faithful in the Lord). In order to spread the Gospel, he has been writing and recording with the help of his computer. His computer storage contains a large number of textual and graphic materials in this field, including eight articles of his: Chinese Christian Memory, Christian Development in Xiao Town, Christianity in New China, and other precious documents of his own experience and recordings.
(The writer of this article is a staff writer for the Gospel Times.)
- Translated by Nicolas Cao
“只有主耶稣不改变，世界、亲人、儿女、都会改变，惟耶稣的大爱不改变。我的经历：中年死妻子、死儿子、又死了第二任妻子。从1999年9月27日至今22年了，现在93岁……天天谢谢主耶稣的恩典！”这是主的老仆人袁相中长老，近日写给一位遭遇不幸的姊妹的留言。
我认识袁长老已经有十余年了。2021年4月20日到22日，笔者受主的差派，与一位同工一起来到了浙江省宁波市奉化区的萧镇泉口真神基督教堂，与长老见面了。
袁长老80岁开始学电脑，能够熟练的使用、操作电脑的各种功能，比如微软的Office所拥有的各种功能，PPT（幻灯片）、用Word文档打字、存储照片、诗歌赞美的音乐播放、能够作曲的谱曲软件等等。
长老也有音乐“细胞”。在西安教堂服侍的时候，他就在诗班负责；老人家会唱的赞美诗歌非常多，在交通中就可以穿插诗歌赞美。应我的请求，长老用电子琴为我们弹奏了三首赞美诗歌，非常优美。
长老记忆力非常好。面对九十三岁的老人，不是那种老态龙钟和失忆健忘的状态，而是回忆起自己所走过的服侍的路、教会、乃至中国教会的发展史、中国基督教的先哲们等历史，如数家珍，甚至精确到哪一年、哪一月、哪一日。
别看长老年龄大，走起路来一点也不慢，没有那种步履蹒跚的样子，带领我们参观教堂、去卧室，走三层楼的楼梯上上下下，步履轻盈。
袁相中长老子承父志，奉神的差派，从西安来到具有104年悠久历史的萧镇基督教真神堂已经服侍了三十多年，为记录自己为主服侍的经历、记录那些曾经为中国教会和福音献身的先贤们，既有教会的牧长，也有那些忠心信主的平信徒；为把福音传开，长老借助于电脑在不停的写作、记载。他的电脑里存储了大量的这方面的图文资料，包括他撰写的《中国基督教回忆》共计八篇、《萧镇基督教发展》《新中国的基督教》等他所亲身经历和记录的珍贵文献。
（本文作者为福音时报特约撰稿人。）
记93岁神的老仆人袁相中长老二三事
“Only the Lord Jesus never changes. The world, the family, and the children will always change, but Jesus’ great love will never change. My life experience: At my middle-age, my ex-wife and son died. Then my second wife died too. Since September 27, 1999, 22 years have passed, and now I’m 93 years old... Thank the Lord Jesus for his grace every day!”
An old servant of the Lord, Yuan Xiangzhong, recently wrote a message to a sister who suffered misfortune.
I have known Yuan for more than ten years. From April 20 to 22, 2021, a church worker and I went to Quankou True God Christian Church, Xiao Town, Fenghua District, Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province, to meet with him.
At the age of 80, Elder Yuan began to learn how to use a computer. He can skillfully use and operate various functions of the computer, such as PPT (PowerPoint), typing in Word documents, storing photos, playing music with hymns, composing music through software and so on.
He also has musical “cells”. When he served in Xi'an Church, he, who can sing many hymns, was in charge of the choir. While we were walking, he sang a few hymns to us. At my request, he played three hymns for us with the electronic organ, which sounded very beautiful.
Yuan has a very good memory. As a 93-year-old man, he is not in a state of senility or amnesia. Instead, he can recall his journey of service, the church, the development history of the church in China, and the ancient philosophers of Christianity in China. He can clearly recall these, even down to the exact year, month and day.
Despite his age, he is not slow at all and does not teeter. He led us around the church, to the bedroom, and up and down the three flights of stairs, with a light step.
He followed his father’s example and God’s plan for him to come to the True God Church of Xiao Town – a church with a long history of 104 years – and served there for more than 30 years. He recorded his experience of serving the Lord, and also the experience of those who were dedicated to the Chinese church and the Gospel for their whole lives (including not only church pastors, but also laypersons who were faithful in the Lord). In order to spread the Gospel, he has been writing and recording with the help of his computer. His computer storage contains a large number of textual and graphic materials in this field, including eight articles of his: Chinese Christian Memory, Christian Development in Xiao Town, Christianity in New China, and other precious documents of his own experience and recordings.
(The writer of this article is a staff writer for the Gospel Times.)
- Translated by Nicolas Cao
Some Anecdotes of 93-Y-O Elder
